PhotoWorks Offers Retail Outlet for Photographers

PhotoWorks, which began life as Seattle Film Works, started out decades ago using movie film to make prints and slides. Today, many know them as an online photo sharing site, which offers prints and custom photo items, such as books, calendars, cards, and other gift items. I’ve often used this company. I buy prints from them, and last year, I made a book from old scanned family pictures.

Now this company offer Storefronts, a retail outlet for photographers, where the photographers can create and sell their own photo-related gifts. Right now, you can sell only books from this site. Soon you’ll be able to sell all sorts of products, including images and items that use images, such as coffee mugs, calendars, and so forth. In addition, PhotoWorks plans to offer widgets that will allow users to display their products on their personal websites.

You choose a user name, which gets incorporated into the URL. Choose carefully, since you cannot change this name later. PhotoWorks will take care of hosting your images, payments, and shipping. You can then have the proceeds either deposited into a Paypal account, or credited to your PhotoWorks account.

Make sure you read the terms and conditions of use. For example, you must supply a taxpayer i.d. or the company will withhold part of your proceeds. PhotoWorks will pay you monthly if amount you have earned is over $50. If your proceeds are less than $50, they will pay you when the amount reaches that number. If you don’t sell $50 worth of products in a year’s time, you will be charged a small fee. One interesting touch is the Storefront will allow shoppers to fill a cart from several different stores, so it will be a bit like an online mall.

Although this is not a totally unique notion, it does have some interesting features. Clearly, this site has big plans. Keep an eye on them to see how these plans develop.

I'm a person who loves both words and images. A writer by profession, I'm a passionate photographer in my free time. I do not see the arts as a competitive activity, since no two people would ever create the same work even if they had the same subject. I welcome comments and suggestions from all.